1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of digital systems. More particularly, the invention pertains to QoS methods for digital systems, and especially multimedia terminals.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Network environments have undeniably grown to an important communication tool in our society. The increasing trend to user mobility and associated ubiquitous multimedia access, leads to a proliferation of a heterogeneous set of terminals, e.g. high-resolution televisions, high-end graphics workstations, PCs, game consoles and low-end portable devices.
Cost is the driving force behind this differentiation: the lower the cost to the end user, the more technological restrictions are imposed (e.g. constraints in silicon size and power consumption), and the lower the access bandwidth and processing capabilities of the appliance. Furthermore, with the advent of multiple connected environments, one single terminal can be simultaneously connected to different servers, therefore consuming content with potentially highly, dynamically and stochastically changing characteristics. Obviously, for guaranteeing a real-time experience of the application, it is mandatory to adapt it on-the-fly to the characteristics of both the network and user terminal.
Network Quality of Service (Network QoS), guaranteeing a service quality under constrained network conditions, has since several years got a lot of attention. However, Quality of Service dedicated to the Terminal (Terminal QoS), where the application is matched to the processing power of the terminal, is a relatively new topic of research.